Written by Committee Meeting held prior to the group meeting, mostly focussed on the preparations for our stall at the Sustainable Futures Festival in June (23rd) and the Off Grid Expo in August (3rd and 4th). We will need volunteers to man the stall at both these. A roster form will be passed around at the next meeting, but if you would like to volunteer, please email Lucy and let her know. We will be having another seed planting day in June so if you’d like to be involved, get in touch. Any plants you may like to donate would also be welcome. We are hoping to organise a visit to the farm of Tom and Zaia Kendall https://permeco.org/ in the coming months, as well as looking for people that are keen to host a tour of their garden or farm. There is also a community day the Council is organising where organisations can showcase what they do – this will be at the Showgrounds on the 1st of June and we’ll need volunteers for that too!
Group Meeting Discussion
Naomi suggested that we have a short talk/presentation/demonstration to the group at each meeting. Renee has offered to go first next month. If you would like to do a short presentation on something, please let us know – 10-15 minutes would be good.
Regula has been harvesting and freezing turmeric. It’s certainly that time of the year again now. Serge mentioned that turmeric is high in oxalates, which I (Lucy) found interesting as I’ve always been under the impression that you need to cook turmeric before slicing and drying, so this may be why.
Narayana had a bit to share – she’s using grass as mulch, eating gourds when they are quite small, picking eggplants and collecting her first eggs. She had two preserving suggestions. 1. lime and passionfruit cordial and 2. Rosellas in honey (peel the calyx away from the seed and ferment in some honey) Both sound delicious!
Darren and Melinda have been harvesting and freezing their rosellas until they can find time to make jam – this is a great idea if you only have a couple of bushes and can’t harvest enough at once to bother with jam. Freeze them as you pick them until you have enough. Sweet potatoes have been a problem for them, (and quite a few other people are not getting many potatoes – just a lot of vine) Serge said that they have been very slow to start this year, maybe due to the dry summer. They are flowering now and usually you need them to flower before harvesting. Some people like to treat them like an annual crop and dig them and replant slips. Others treat them like the perennial they are and just bandicoot. Too much vigorous vine growth can mean a reduction in the roots forming.
Foz has had a lot of success this year with his Vietnamese mint and is hoping to donate some cuttings for the stalls. It appears to like plenty of water and some shade so has done very well near the bananas. His pumpkins are doing well except the QLD Blue (I could say the same, but that doesn’t concern me because I don’t like the blues anyway!)
Jane – rain, rain and more rain, has made her new garden development very difficult. Her papayas are loving the rain though, so she’s lucky there. She just plants the seeds from any nice ones she eats – seeds need to be fresh when planted, they don’t dry and store at all. They are also a hungry plant and need a fertile soil. If they are fed well, they’ll do well and won’t suffer from black spot.
Rhonda – pumpkins, passionfruit and lemons (she luckily missed out on the dreaded citrus sucking moth) going well. Everyone seems to have plenty of passionfruit so it’s been a good year for them!
Naomi has passionfruit for the first time this year, but sadly no citrus as she had a visit from the moth. She has plenty of worms if anyone wants any. Comment below and I can put you in touch with her. She also has pinto peanut runners. They make a good ground cover.
Wendy has very tall yacon – you harvest these after flowering – usually in June. Store the tubers in moist sand and plant again in September. She’s been making elderberry syrup – the berries need to be cooked, so syrup or jam is the way to preserve these.
Jo’s garden is out of control (a common problem with all this rain!). Shes has planted her garlic in 3 lots – March, April and May. March has been the best planting – maybe it was too wet in April.
Renee has a strange gourd – maybe a New Guinea Bean. I find these best when eaten small, 2cm diameter roughly. Peeling before cooking them is best. Her worms are going very well. She likes to grind up eggshells and make lucerne tea to feed them.
Serge has been dehydrating mint. Also trying coco yam. You can bandicoot around the coco yam to get the tubers. They are hard to peel raw, so cook in their skins. Treat them like mashed spuds. He will also have elephant foot yam to share in the future as his is going well. He’s just built himself a gravel screed so that he can use his own gravel on his road and for paving – it’s great to be self-sufficient!
Lucy (me) has been lucky enough to have two German wwoofers for a few weeks so has been doing lots of chop and drop mulching in the gardens. They have been helping with the planting of potatoes, garlic, and other root crops (by seed).
Once again, a great gathering with lots of great information shared. A small group this month but that just means we get to talk more. Come along and join in the discussions next month – first Monday of each month from 6pm with harvest swap and then the gathering at 6.30. Bring along a plate to share for supper.
